Strange Happenings: "We Have Received an Application to Record Someone Else as the Registered Keeper" !

[Strange]

Without giving us your reg number can we have a photo? We can all keep an eye out for adverts for similar vans?
If nothing else knowing the colour would narrow down the possibilities.

Look out for anything like this : https://www.google.com/search?q=ind...dYRkgEEMy4xNZgBAKABAcgBCMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz

 

[Strange]

Sorry indium grey metallic vw t6 california ocean

 

[Wild Rover]

Logbook loans

Information for financial businesses on handling and resolving complaints about logbook loans.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

 

[Strange]

I'm probably being paranoid on your behalf, but are you sure the letter from the DLVA was legitimate and are you positive it was really them you contacted? Did you use the credentials provided on the letter or did you look them up yourself?

Ran a check on the supplied telephone number and got nothing affirmative back - except that it is a Swansea number. Rang DVLA central number and they said was it is a letter they send out in relation to a V62 request see above (virtually don't have to satisfy anything in terms of actual proof to do this). All they said was that the telephone number was a Swansea one and one of their ones before I even gave her the full number. I said it didn't have a switchboard / list of options like the one that I came through to her on but she said it was a departmental one.

It does mention the Central Casework Group on the letter and has the hours as 8am to 4:30pm Mon to Friday .. I do think it is genuine but I haven't a glue as to what is going on. Don't think it would be a log-book loan, the guy I bought it from was and is a Dentist (and has supplied me with all the paperwork relating to the vehicle and the discharging of the VW Commercial Finance agreement ....to go with the original email I received from him and VW Finance when I first bought the van in very early 2020 !

 

[Perfectos]

Had it for over a year and a half. Haven't tried to sell it. Only place i have been is to the VW main dealers. Don't think you need any details to apply change of record keeper (afterall V5's get lost). Just fill in one of these if the DVLA don't hear from the current keeper within 14 days the V5 is updated with your details. Just pick a time when they / the owner is away for the 14 days to be exceeded or intercept it in the post ! https://assets.publishing.service.g...pplication-for-a-registration-certificate.pdf

Look at this for a case in point of how bad it can get: https://passionford.com/forum/general-car-related-discussion/62326-the-escort-cosworth-that-cost-me-450-a.html

Hi Strange,

have I interpreted the following correctly:

you have had your van for over a year, you bought it out right (cash / no finance)
the previous owner has had no previous issues like this?
you are still in contact with the previous owner?
the previous owner proved he paid off the finance immediately before you bought it a year ago. ?

one year after buying the van privately, you take it to a dealer for routine servicing ,
while checking your vehicle in for service , the VW dealer says you may not have to pay for a service as he had a record on his system of a Finance company that may pay for the service (it was not VW finance).?

you said:
“I thought this was even stranger as when I bought the van it was off somebody who had finance on it from VW Finance to get a better deal - so if anything I was expecting it to be them. When I was at the dealers the completed service invoice and initial vehicle check stated that the car was a a Beach. “ did you keep a copy of that invoice stating Beach ?
who noted the error, you or the Dealer ?

“It (the invoice) was subsequently amended to read Ocean“

who amended the model, from beach to Ocean, was it the dealer ?

”HPI check which showed it had no outstanding finance on it. I just repeated the HPI check this morning and it stills shows no outstanding Finance”

what model the HPI check show Ocean or Beach ?

can you confirm what is the vehicle classification stated on your V5 ?

 

[Strange]

Perfectos

Yep absolutely spot on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Only thing worth adding is that the previous owner bought it - had it for a day / week and flipped it (he bought it for a holiday in Italy and subsequently decided he wasn't going). It had less than a few hundred miles on it. Prior to that it was pre-registered with VW and he bought it from the same main dealer (which I have a receipt for)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dealer amended the service invoice / vehicle check and re-printed it for me with Ocean replacing Beach
HPI check shows Ocean
V5 states Ocean

Kind regards
S

 

[Strange]

Sorry I din't keep a record of the initial print off showing beach (think he binned them) . I noted the error when I went out to the car and read through the van check and invoice ... Hoping to speak to service guy tomorrow, after he returns from his day off. His mate tried to check the system for me but said the leasing / fiance company details had been deleted / weren't on the system (though he remembered the conversation) but his mate would check the physical job sheets for me tomorrow. Plus he did send an email so he could check who that was sent to

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Hello @Strange any updates on this intriguing situation?

 

[Strange]

Lease company Marker at VW dealers has been removed (not by VW but apparently by lease company), DLVA have put V5 change of name on hold until they check hard copy of request for possible entry errors, if correct then me and other "owner" will have to prove proof of ownership to the DVLA ... Apparently it could take a week to pull and check this. Still don't know who requested the change of V5

Been in touch with previous owner and he has given me further proof of finance co. being paid (actual letter to go with the email copy I already had) and all his payments to VW for the van. By the way I am a fairly regular poster on this forum, but went with a different user name on this one for obvious reasons!

The ease at someone can do this and not have their name revealed to the current keeper is absolutely ridiculous. All it takes is a V62 filled in, the current keeper not to respond within 2 weeks, then the person who makes the request gets a v5 for the vehicle ... Going to have to have my post checked regularly if i go away !

 

[sidepod]

So what do they do with the duplicate V5? You still have the van and they can’t prove they bought it from you.

 

[andyinluton]

So what do they do with the duplicate V5? You still have the van and they can’t prove they bought it from you.

Once you have the V5 it is sufficient to obtain duplicate keys, alternatively you get a set of plates made up to stick on a stolen van & sell it as a ringer. The OPs van won’t show up as stolen on a simple number plate check.

 

[sidepod]

No other form of ID required to obtain keys? Really?

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

VINChip is perhaps a good investment if the OPs van does get cloned. His van goes on a database that the police access. They have scanners that detect the chips that you hide in your van. The chips are mapped to your van so it’s identifiable regardless of what number plates are on it. Similarly a van with false plates (yours) won’t return a positive if scanned by the police. Not expensive.

 

[sidepod]

Point I’m making is, if it was that easy cars would be disappearing all the time.
Walk into any driveway, copy the chassis no from the windscreen, copy the registration. Order your V5, order new keys, steal vehicle.

 

[Strange]

VINChip is perhaps a good investment if the OPs van does get cloned. His van goes on a database that the police access. They have scanners that detect the chips that you hide in your van. The chips are mapped to your van so it’s identifiable regardless of what number plates are on it. Similarly a van with false plates (yours) won’t return a positive if scanned by the police. Not expensive.

View attachment 85430

Be great if the theory was followed through in reality but I don't think the police would actually be sitting there actively scanning vehicles. Indeed watched a You Tube video on it and came across this comment :
" Bob. Great video. The VIN chip is a great idea in principle but was of no help to us after we had our caravan stolen just 2 weeks after fitting the VIN chip. The tamper proof stickers are of no use because they are easily removed! As for the RF chip stickers to be placed inside cupboard, where is the thief going to look first? They have to be placed near to the outside of the van so the scanners can read them. When we contacted the police after our caravan was stolen, they were unaware of any such scanner and did not know of a force that had them. Personally I cannot see the point of this system, particularly as we never heard anything about our caravan. Luckily, the insurance paid out. After doing a lot of research after our theft, it’s frightening was lengths these thieving swines will go to to steal your precious van. If they want it, they will get it."

Perhaps a visual deterrent with stickers on the window that reference it , etc.

 

[Velma's Dad]

Be great if the theory was followed through in reality but I don't think the police would actually be sitting there actively scanning vehicles. Indeed watched a You Tube video on it and came across this comment :
" Bob. Great video. The VIN chip is a great idea in principle but was of no help to us after we had our caravan stolen just 2 weeks after fitting the VIN chip. The tamper proof stickers are of no use because they are easily removed! As for the RF chip stickers to be placed inside cupboard, where is the thief going to look first? They have to be placed near to the outside of the van so the scanners can read them. When we contacted the police after our caravan was stolen, they were unaware of any such scanner and did not know of a force that had them. Personally I cannot see the point of this system, particularly as we never heard anything about our caravan. Luckily, the insurance paid out. After doing a lot of research after our theft, it’s frightening was lengths these thieving swines will go to to steal your precious van. If they want it, they will get it."

Perhaps a visual deterrent with stickers on the window that reference it , etc.

Various ID-tagging systems (including smart water etc) rely on someone actively checking the vehicle for such tagging when it changes hands. Given that very few people even verify the VIN plate or window etching when they buy a vehicle privately, it's a pretty safe bet they're not going to scan it for hidden tags. And anyway, I gather that forging a V5 that will be good enough to fool most people isn't that hard.

In any case, given that most higher-value vehicles are nicked to be shipped overseas or broken up for sub-assemblies, it's likely your car/van will be popped straight into a shipping container. Within a hour of being nicked it will go "off the radar". It's not going to be parked on a street somewhere for some copper to amble past and find it with the RF scanner that he doesn't have.

The best you can hope(?) for by shelling out for an ID tagging 'solution' is that if your vehicle does happen to be recovered as part of a police operation, it can be positively identified to be returned to you. Whether you'll actually want it by then is another matter.

 

[Mr T]

Sorry to hear of this weird situation @Strange must be quite stressful.
What I don't understand is the V5 document clearly sates on it "This document is not proof of ownership" so what is? If buying a vehicle from a private seller how do you know they own it?
Clearly the V5 is what we all take to be proof, but as suggested in this thread, it is not difficult to get hold of one. Makes me wonder how you cold actually prove you own a vehicle unless purchased new from a dealer.

Hope you get this resolved.

 

[Strange]

So still on-going . Been away in Spain / France for 2 weeks now back. When there managed to speak to DVLA who confirmed that the person requesting the issue of the V5 was definitely not a hire or lease company (the ones that were previously on the VW system and wanted VW to tell them who brought the van in for a service - this was just prior to when I received the original request from the DVLA - where the DVLA said they would issue the V5 to the person requesting it within 14 days if I didn't respond. Just as well i wasn't on holiday when this first happened !

Anyway I informed the DVLA I would be on holiday and they subsequently put things on hold. On return from my holiday they now want me take some pictures, namely :

"an image of the whole vehicle displaying the registration number

stamped-in vehicle identification number (VIN) / chassis number (must be inside the vehicle)

VIN sticker (usually located in the door shut ) or VIN plate and its location on the vehicle "

 

[paul_f]

My guess would be someone has sold a stolen van with clonded version of your plates on it

 

[Strange]

Right finally concluded. Apparently it was a misquoted registration. At what point it was misquoted I don't know. Probably when they found out it was going to be contested and their new v5 didn't arrive. So taken weeks to resolve, phone calls, emails, not helped by the back-log at the DVLA (though actual team dealing with it were brilliant).